When driving on the south coast of Iceland you will notice a couple of mountains, which used to be islands.
One such mountain is a 275-meter high tuff mountain that stands tall by ring-road 1. Its name is Pétursey or Peter's Island.
Most people pass these mountains at 90 km/h on their travels in my country, which is a shame, so I am going to tell you about the elves and supernatural beings living in them - and other interesting facts and accounts about these mountains.
Top photo: Pétursey in the distance
Pétursey island
Pétursey was called Eyjan há or Tall Island in the olden days. Seeing that it is called an island, then the sea must have surrounded it earlier.
It is said that on one side of Pétursey good elves live and on the other side bad elves live...
My husband and I have access to a small summer cottage in the vicinity of Pétursey, where we sometimes stay, without electricity and heating like people used to do in the olden days.
At the cottage - a part of Pétursey can be seen behind the cottage
It is heaven on earth where one can totally relax in the vicinity of glaciers and mountains with a glacial river running next to the cottage.
At night we have seen foxes behind the cottage. They are very scared of people and once a fox noticed me and jumped high in the air and I saw it almost flying away - from the scary me ;)
Eyjarhóll - Island Mound
Eyjarhóll - Island Mound
You will notice a peculiar mound a little south of Pétursey, on the other side of the road. It is in the shape of a pyramid or a cone and its name is Eyjarhóll - Island Mound.
Eyjarhóll is a volcanic plug made of basalt resulting from an underwater eruption. The sea, which is close by and must have been even closer in the olden days, has abraded the volcanic tuff from the mound.
This mound is covered in grass and is said to be the habitation of elves.
Eyjarhóll and Pétursey island
These freestanding mountains were a good fortress, as it were, in the olden times when the Vikings were fighting each other.
In the Sturlungaöld Era (mid-13th century) some 200 Vikings used Pétursey as a fortress where they could defend themselves against their enemies.
Now, let's have a look at the folklore that I found in Þjóðsögur Jóns Árnasonar - the Compilation of Folklore of Jón Árnason, which took place at Pétursey.
The Shoal of Þuríður in Pétursey (Þuríðartorfa)
Pétursey island
On the west side of Pétursey, there is a particular slope that reaches from the plain up to the edge of the mountain.
It is said that in the olden days, many children were playing outside on a beautiful winter night - they slid downhill on ice in the slope. The children were happy and were playing loudly.
All of a sudden they heard as if somebody were shouting snappily: "Stop this!". They got startled and all of them, but two girls, stopped playing - the two girls walked high up on the slope and slid from there.
Again there was a shout as before: "Stop this!" but they didn't stop.
Eyjarhóll
Shortly afterward they heard the same shout. One of the two girls, named Þuríður, said that she was not going to stop and went to the rim of the mountain and slid down from there.
The story goes that Þuríður slid down the whole slope, but couldn't stop when she reached the plain, and the shoal ran with Þuríður all the way to the sea, which was quite far away.
Þuríður got lost there and the shoal got its name, Þuríðartorfa or the Shoal of Þuríður.
(Translated into English from Þjóðsögur Jóns Árnasonar - the Compilation of Folklore of Jón Árnason).
The elves do not want humans to be loud and disrespectful by their habitation and woe to those who do not listen!
The Phantom in Pétursey (Vofan í Pétursey)
Pétursey island
Teenagers have inexplicably wandered away from the farm in Pétursey and have sometimes been found again, but sometimes they have drowned in the Hafursá river.
The river runs east of Pétursey and the pastures of the farmland are by the river.
This story happened in Pétursey when a woman, who is still alive (this is an old story - RHR) was a teenager; one night the women of Pétursey were cooking meat for Christmas dinner, as was their custom back then.
Pétursey island and Mýrdalsjökull glacier
The girl wanted to visit an elderly woman who used to give her a bite to eat.
This elderly woman lived almost next door to the girl and they used the same footpath to their houses.
It was dark outside, but as the girl stood in front of the door where she wanted to enter, she saw a fairly tall guy approaching, and as he reached the girl she saw arms appearing from this phantom.
Pétursey island
The phantom grabbed the girl and threw her two or three times onto the pavement, much as when a bag is stomped.
He then released the girl and disappeared, but the girl was not harmed.
(Translated into English from Þjóðsögur Jóns Árnasonar - the Compilation of Folklore of Jón Árnason)
The Boy in Pétursey (Drengurinn í Pétursey)
Pétursey island
A few years ago the men, who remembered an occurrence in Pétursey in Mýrdalur, passed away.
There is a big rock in Pétursey, which people believe to be an elf-rock.
Thus the farmers prohibited their children to venture too close to this rock, but one boy, the son of the farmer, didn't obey and used to play close to the rock.
One day the boy disappeared and people went searching for him, especially close to this rock.
Pétursey island
Next winter the people were sitting in the cowshed and the farmer thought he saw his son enter the cowshed on two occasions that winter dressed in ragged clothes - and then the boy disappeared again.
Next spring they found the skeleton of the boy by the rock.
(Translated into English from Þjóðsögur Jóns Árnasonar - the Compilation of Folklore of Jón Árnason).
Mállausubakkar or Mute Ridge
Pétursey
Once upon a time, two women were raking with a scythe in the middle moor in Pétursey, a bit far west of the so-called Gvendarbakki. The weather was cold and raw and it was raining.
One of the women wished she had hot porridge in front of her. After a long while, she saw hot thick porridge in front of them with 2 spoons.
The other woman was very grateful for this delivery and ate the porridge with a good appetite, but the woman, who had wished for the porridge, didn't dare to eat the porridge.
After the other woman had eaten to her heart's content she cut off silver hooks from her bodice and put them in the trough.
Pétursey
As the trough was taken away the girl, who had wished for the porridge, but didn't eat it, was spoken to. She was told that she should not wish for anything anymore to make fun of others.
From then on she became mute and the ridge is still called Mállausubakkar or the Mute Ridge.
(Translated into English from Þjóðsögur Jóns Árnasonar - the Compilation of Folklore of Jón Árnason).
Now, this must have been an elf, giving the girl hot porridge to eat. The girl showed disrespect by not eating the porridge.
For sure some strange things have happened in this area.
Pétursey island - the west side
There are other accounts of encounters with elves and supernatural beings in Pétursey, one of which states that there are many elves in Pétursey and that there are both good and bad elves in the mountain. That story is called "Huldufólkið í Pétursey" or the Hidden People of Pétursey.
Huldufólk or the Hidden people are similar to the elves, they might even be the same, they might also be slightly different, it is difficult to tell.
In our folklore, they are called by both names "álfar" and "huldufólk".
Pétursey is located by ring-road 1 east of Sólheimasandur and west of the town Vík on the south shore of South Iceland. To visit this area you can rent a car and explore it by yourself.
Also, check out the self-drive tours and guided tours of this area.
Other interesting stops in South Iceland:
The beautiful Waterfalls of South Iceland; Seljalandsfoss, Skógafoss & Gljúfrabúi
Glacier Hike & Ice Climbing on Sólheimajökull Glacier in South Iceland
Hjörleifshöfði Promontory in South-Iceland - the Blood Brothers Ingólfur and Hjörleifur
Cape Dyrhólaey in South Iceland - the One with the Big Arch.
Have a lovely time in South Iceland :)
